Appeal to help four-year-old girl receive treatment to walk on her own two feet – Oxfordshire Guardian

The family of a four-year old girl suffering from cerebral palsy are appealing for help in funding vital therapy to allow the little girl to walk independently.

Lenuta Magda and husband Nicolaeare hoping to reach a total of 30,000 to fund Alinas physiotherapy and specialist oxygen therapy to help her lead a more normal life.

At the moment, the plucky youngster has splints on both legs and on her right arm and relies on a walking stick.

The family, who live in Oxford, are hoping that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) will help achieve the best outcome for her future quality of life.

The therapy, which takes up to three hours a session, enhances the bodys natural healing process by inhalation of 100% oxygen in a total body chamber.

The family are planning on travelling to Romania to undergo the treatment, costing around 100 a day for 15-20 days.

The therapy is significantly cheaper abroad than it is in the UK, costing up to 300 a day, but it needs to be repeated every four to six months to achieve the best outcome.

When asked how her daughter is coping, Lenuta said: Shes amazing. She goes to oxygen therapy for three hours and she doesnt even cry, she gets on with it.

Lenuta, who is unemployed after being made redundant in 2015, is Alinas carer.

Between caring for her daughter who falls ill every two to three weeks and her two-year-old son, Nicolae Junior, she said there is little space for finding a job, and her husband is self-employed.

She added: We dont have time for us. Everything is just about them for now. We dont have any family here so it is just me and the children and my husband.

Alina arrived very early at 26 weeks, weighing just 1.1kg due to an infection.

She started to fight for her life having sepsis, a life-threatening condition that arises when the bodys response to infection injures its own tissues and organs.

Soon afterwards she had a brain bleed later leading to a diagnosis of three-limb cerebral palsy.

She spent 103 days in NICU, where she was on oxygen and had a feeding tube throughout her hospitalisation.

The family says she is making good progress but that they need help paying for all the treatments.

A spokeswoman at Just4Children, the charity website hosting the appeal, said: We hope that Alinas Campaign is successful so Alina can quickly receive the treatment she so desperately needs to enjoy a much better quality of life.

Theres no cure for cerebral palsy but there are numerous treatments available that can treat many of its symptoms and help people with the condition to be as independent as possible.

To donate, visit: http://just4children.org/children-helped2017/help-alina-walk-independently/.

Alternatively, textALIN67 with your chosen amountto 70070.

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Appeal to help four-year-old girl receive treatment to walk on her own two feet - Oxfordshire Guardian